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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
4.5/5
("Your real name is longer than it sounds," I said and felt my toes turn blue.)
("Your real name is longer than it sounds," I said and felt my toes turn blue.)
Such a cute and funny book! But also with heartbreaking moments. Really nice writingstyle and the book just got better and better.
2019: Second time reading it. Still love this book. It is so bizarre at times, so cute at other, and also heartbreaking. This author is very dear to me, and it was fun to read the book again.
2019: Second time reading it. Still love this book. It is so bizarre at times, so cute at other, and also heartbreaking. This author is very dear to me, and it was fun to read the book again.
My first thought was to give this novella 2 stars, but the more I reflected on the work, I realized that the novel fails to capture the voice of a woman nearing 100. The diction is that of a woman in her early to mid-thirties, which is not bad on its face, but since the job of the novel is to show, from a first-person POV I might add, an old woman's meditation on death, then there is a glaring problem. The MC didn't come across as whimsical or quirky, but rather foolish and vapid. This is an instance in which the separation of the writing style and the narrator's voice cannot be achieved. Mathea is a character that can only exist on paper: there is nothing that brings out and off the page.
I thought she was silly and funny and then the more I read, the more I realized I was reading about a whole person, a very scared and loved one. I want to reread this when I'm older. I felt so sad, at the end. I'm glad Mathea and Epsilon had so much time together.
I was confused about some things, like what was happening with June's mother? And the man under the bridge?
emotional
sad
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
sad
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was reminded of the characterisation of Eleanor Oliphant from Eleanor oliphant is completely fine from this novel. A reflective book not without sadness. As she appeared stuck between wanting socialisation and dreading it, I felt for Marthea.
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A darkly amusing yet thought provoking tale of an old lady who seeks to be noticed before she dies. Parts of this book are really funny and yet others are so heartbreaking and impressed upon me how sad it would be to die without anyone left who would even realise you had gone.
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes